On the Return of the Flag of the Second Iowa Regiment, the first that waved on the breastworks of Fort Donelson

Proud Union Flag! we welcome thee

Back to thy home among the free,

      From Slavery’s dark domain

Pierced through with balls from rebel guns,

While waving o’er our valiant sons,

      The living and the slain.

Beneath thy folds, with flashing eye,

Resolved to conquer or to die,

      Our gallant heroes stood;

While at their feet and all around,

Lay fallen comrades on the ground,

      Still weltering in their blood.

Nearer they come and nearer still,

In solid phalanx up the hill.

      Beneath the galling fire;

Scaling the enemy’s defence.

They plant thee on their battlements,

      To wave in triumph there.

The deadly conflict now begins –

The fight is short, and Freedom wins

      A glorious victory!

The rebel foe with terror sees

Thy colors floating to the breeze,

      And flees in wild dismay.

Proud, noble Flag! thy work is done,

The first to float o’er Donelson,

      We welcome thee again.

We hail thy glorious Stripes and Stars,

With all their bullet marks and scars,

      And every bloody stain.

We’ll lay thy silken folds away,

A precious relic on that day,

      Which sealed Rebellion’s fate;

And while that glorious day is sung,

Those folds shall safely rest among

      The archives of our state.

J. B. J.

DURANT, Cedar Co., Iowa

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, March 14, 1862, p. 2